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Is it fair that animals around the world are suffering? Every day an animal is being beaten or neglected. This may involve beating, stabbing, shooting animals and even setting them on fire. I think this is wrong and should be stopped immediately. Also these animals are neglected like, not giving them necessary food, water, shelter and vet care. Most of these animals are dying everyday. Some examples of animal abuse would be dog fighting, puppy mills, animal hoarding, farm animal welfare, horse slaughter, and any other animal issues.

Dog fighting is when dogs are forced to defend themselves against other dogs for profit or entertainment of other people. This is wrong and a terrible thing to do to any animal. These animals are held in isolation and spend their time on heavy chains. They are pushed in many ways under bad conditions. For example, “They are regularly conditioned for fighting through the use of drugs, including anabolic steroids to enhance muscle mass and encourage aggressiveness,”(The Criminal, Underground World of Dog Fighting). Even though dogfighting is illegal in every state, people are still doing it for money.

Animal hoarding is when a person has too many animals in one house at a time and can’t take care of all of them, which leads to neglect between the animals. They should not have this many pets which is unfair to the animals. They each need personal attention throughout the day. This person may deny that they have so many animals which can be a sign of animal hoarding. Another sign would be, “They have numerous animals and may not know the total number of animals in their care. Their home is deteriorated (i.e., dirty windows, broken furniture, holes in the wall and floor, extreme clutter), and also there is a strong smell of ammonia, and floors may be covered with dried feces, urine, vomit, etc,”(A Complex Issue). All of the animal abuse should be stopped immediately before another animal dies of suffrage. In conclusion I believe animal abuse is the worst thing you can do to an animal. It is not fair that they are being beaten and stabbed. These animal are dying everyday which should not be happening. They are pets and living things not something to make money off of. They should be taken care of by an owner who actually cares about them. The things these animals are going through should be stopped immediately. I hope you too understand why we should take action by helping animal shelters that rescue these animals.

Amazon is famous for their delivery services. Many people prefer to do all their shopping online to avoid the hassle of getting to a store. Each year, Cyber Monday is as big on sales as Black Friday. Amazon does have other services however. Prime deals with faster delivery, Reality TV, Movie streaming, and Music. Some people even prefer Amazon to giants like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Kindle is a big contender in eReading. But, smartphones? Amazon has recently released the Amazon Fire Phone. Much cheaper than other smartphones on the market, it runs Fire OS, and Android based OS. There are 3 classic models of 16, 32 and 64 GB. The size of the phone is on the larger side at 5.48 x 2.62 x 0.35 in. The phone supports a whopping 2 MB of RAM, on a phone!!! The processor is a quadcore 2.2 gHz Krait processor. Max battery life on stand-by is 285 h. The max talk time is 22 h, and the max music play is 65 h. This video is the actual press conference where the Fire phone was released.

The Fire Phone isn’t a bad start for Amazon. With some improvements, it may come to be a major contender in the smartphone market. A first impression shows the OS very similar to Android. However, the cheaper prices may appeal to many people, especially those looking for a first major phone. Personally, I like the look of the phone. Swivel dynamic shortcuts look extremely useful and quick. The “Firefly” button looks intriguing as well. I like the idea of a home button that has many more functions. And of course, like the Kindle Fire, the “Mayday” button. For someone who isn’t tech-savvy and doesn’t like figuring everything out, live helpers can be really helpful. Amazon is also amping the deal with many added offers. Buying the Fire phone will grant a free year of prime, as well as 1000 coins of Amazon gold, roughly a $10 value. For those who like games on their phones, and addicting infinite runner games, etc., this phone might not be the thing. The Amazon app store isn’t as appealing to developers as much as Google Play or The iOS App Store. All considered however, I think the Fire Phone is a brand new perspective to smartphone, and an interesting addition to the market. We’ll have to see how the sales play out by the end of the year.

As of mid-August, 34 wildfires are burning in eleven states. 10 of which are in Idaho alone. Idaho residents near the town of Ketchum are forced from their homes as 1,200 firefighters battle the state’s biggest wildfire, which burned across 1,000 acres. More than 2,300 homes have been evacuated so far in central Idaho. The fire is only six percent contained. Also, one of the biggest fires in California’s history continues to spread near Yosemite National Park. The fire, which is being referred to as the Rim Fire, was seven percent contained as of August 27 and has burned through 144,000 acres, making it the 14th largest fire in California since 1932, the year the state started keeping wildfire records. The size of the fire is roughly the size of Chicago. The fire’s location made it a threat to San Francisco’s electrical and water supply. Nearly 3,000 firefighters were battling the blaze.

These many wildfires are very hard for most to try and live through. I think it must be hard for all people that are near one of these fires to try and keep calm and live a normal life. I wonder why It has been almost a month now and most of the fires are still burning. How are the firefighters taking these conditions? How many, if any, people have died so far to these fires? Hopefully, all these questions will be answered and we can have all these fires conquered.

Superstorm Sandy ravaged up the east coast a year ago, destroying everything in its path with its wicked winds and torrential rain. One of the places it hit the hardest was New Jersey, which is famous for its boardwalks, fairs, and other tourist attractions. One such boardwalk is the Seaside Park Boardwalk, which was torn apart by the storm. It had been completely rebuilt as of five months ago, the repairs costing more than $8,000,000 dollars. However, just this week, it all came down once again! But this time, due to fire, not water. Wiring underneath a custard cart/candy shop had been negatively impacted by Sandy’s wind and salty water, and the wires eventually became so damaged an electrical fire was started. Wind carried the fire down the boardwalk, and would’ve burned all of it, including all of the shops along it, but luckily local work crews came and created a barrier to stop the fire, and then snuffed it out with giant sand dunes. Governor Chris Christie later announced the planned $15,000,000 renovation of the boardwalk using money from donations for Sandy recovery, to repair all of the businesses and attractions along the boardwalk.

Personally, I am very glad that the town of Seaside Heights and the state of New Jersey is already talking about rebuilding this boardwalk and its businesses, because this town needs them. Think of how many people work at the stores, restaurants, and other attractions on that boardwalk. Think of how many people there lost their jobs first because of Superstorm Sandy, and then got them back, only to have them burned to the ground five months later. Think of the relief they’re experiencing, knowing they’ll be back on track again. Also, I’m actually sort of glad that this happened, because this has brought to attention the possibility of these electrical fires from damaged wires. It will have people who might have been affected by Sandy make sure everything is ok as well, because we certainly don’t want this happening again. I’ve never to New Jersey for an extended period of time myself, but I have been to a boardwalk, and they are lots of fun, so I’m happy for the people of Seaside Heights that they are getting theirs back up and running for the second, and hopefully last, time.

Firefighters in Colorado are battling a huge, wind-driven wildfires in rugged canyons. The fire was most likely made by a lightning strike. Wildfires in Colorado are occurring a lot earlier than usual. Why? There is less rain than there usually is. So, this leads me to wonder why they don’t come up with alternatives to reduce fires, such as, occasionally watering the land instead of using up tons of water to try to put out the on going fires. They can dump water near the houses. They can thin out the forest. You can use the wood to build houses or other necessities. Are the fires occurring in the same places or are the fires occurring where there hasn’t been fires before?

Authorities said that this was the worst fire seen in about 25 years on Saturday, June 9th, 2012. The fire moved at a rate as fast as 1 ½ miles an hour. The rate of spread is directly related to the amount of heat received by the fuels ahead of the flaming zone, winds, and topography. I think the fire will do a lot of damage and take a lot of water to control and stop it. I wonder how long it will take. I believe that the state will have to make some changes regarding fire materials and prevention in order to stop the fires from occurring so frequently.

The state might ban fireworks on the fourth of July because of such dry conditions. I don’t understand why they are having fireworks in the first place. If just a lightning strike starts a fire, why wouldn’t it make sense that a spark from a firework work starts a fire as well. It is just like banning campfires except that campfires are more protected. Campfires are surrounded by rocks and are more secure than sparks flying everywhere. Sparks that if they were to hit the ground you wouldn’t be there in time or at all to put the fire out.

Late Tuesday, February 14th a fire broke out at a prison in Honduras. It was said to be caused by an inmate lighting his/her mattress on fire. Many people died stuck in the prison,but some prisoners escaped from the prison roof when the chaos of the fire was happening. After the fire was put out officers/gaurds were going through the cells and all they were finding were charred bodies. The fire killed more than 350 prisoners.This is the third major prison fire in Honduras since 2003.

I feel that the fire shouldn’t have even had a chance to start. The prisoners should have no way to start a fire. Even if a fire was started there should be a plan to get as many of the prisoners out as possible. Another problem is that it was the third major fire since 2003. There should be a better system to stop fires from happening. There are many problems about this event , but these are the biggest ones.